Pioneer of the Settlement: Grace Drysdale

(In an interview with Edinburgh Evening News. 5th June 1950)

Over 2000 men and women said “thank you” to a woman who has given a lifetime’s devoted attention to their welfare at a ceremony with a family atmosphere about it in Cameron House, Edinburgh, the other evening.
They were not all there of course, for the little dining room could accommodate only 40-odd. But their representatives from the University Settlement groups at Prestonfield, Kirk o’ Field, and High School Yards crammed in to pay tribute to their inspired leader, pioneer of the Settlement and recent warden of Cameron House, Miss Grace Drysdale. J.P. Read more…

1994: Edinburgh University Settlement’s School of Art Therapy; Historical Outline

The Origins of Scotland’s School of Art Therapy

By Nicholas A. Flavin (Director, Edinburgh University Settlement). First published in ‘Starting from Scratch: Proceedings of the First Scottish International Art Therapy Conference, March 1994’. Edited by Joyce Laing and Peter Byrne. Published by Edinburgh University Settlement, 1996. There has been a keen and continuing interest in Scotland in art and psychopathology, and in the therapeutic applications of art, ever since the work of pioneers such as Joyce Laing and the late Professor Ralph Pickford began to be recognised nationally and internationally in the 1950s. Read more…

1936: Extract from Minutes of the Settlement’s Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the Edinburgh University Settlement Association, held in Craigmillar College, Craigmillar, Edinburgh, on Friday, 28th February, 1936.

In the Chair:

Sir David Wilkie, LL.D. , Ch.M.

Apologies:

Mr Cameron, Mr Chisholm, Councillor Darling, Professor Drever, Harriet, Lady Findlay, Mrs Graham, Mr Haldane, Mr Hardie, Canon Laurie, Miss Looker, MP Marshall, Miss Milnes, Sir Robert Philip and Miss Rackstraw. Read more…

1993: Edinburgh Settlement Unveils Plans For ‘Care Village’

University Settlement bids to turn disused Elsie Inglis Hospital into Scotland’s first ‘Care Village’. In a bold and enterprising move, Edinburgh University Settlement have placed an 11th hour bid to turn the disused Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital in Abbeyhill into the site for Scotland’s first ‘urban care village’.
The plan relies on Lothian Health Board selling the 2.7 acre site to the charity for a figure believed to be close to £100,000. The site is commercially valued at around £650,000. The hospital was built in 1925 from money left over from the Scottish Women’s Hospitals teams and donations raised from around the world by public appeal. Care of the building and the endowment was handed over to the Health Board in 1948. Read more…

1935: Report of Address by Lord Lothian, Founder of Newbattle Abbey College

The value of adult education was emphasised by the Marquess of Lothian, C.H., in an address at the annual meeting of the Council of the Edinburgh University Settlement Association, held in Kirk O’Field College, Drummond Place, last night.

Professor D. P. D. Wilkie, M.D., Ch.M., Chairman of Council, who presided, referred to Lord Lothian’s generous gift of Newbattle Abbey to be a home for adult  education. They hoped they might be able to feed that home from Kirk o’ Field College and also from the Craigmillar College in Niddrie. Read more…

1964 Edinburgh Settlement’s Bold Social Service Plans

Two ambitious and challenging proposals, involving large-scale community development at home and abroad, are now being considered by Edinburgh University Settlement. They could revolutionise the whole scope of social service in the Scottish Universities.

The first proposal is to set up a settlement for social service along Edinburgh lines at Baroda, in the state of Gujarat in India.  There the university is already taking part in a unique experiment by exporting a medical faculty to establish the same teaching techniques in medical education as are offered in Edinburgh with its illustrious tradition.

Read more…